The Importance of Community at Work

In her book Retirement and Its Discontents Michelle Pannor Silveramp8217s research reveals that for millions of people work is much more than output or income they generate It is a source of meaning and social identity It is where they feel intellectually stimulated and can express their creative selves It is where they feel a sense of community and connectionIf organizations lose these attributes they will struggle to attract and retain the best talent Admittedly this is a challenge when they feel in a mad competitive scramble and think that only by devoting all their time and money to data measurement and the like can they survive At the same time they need to find a middle ground a place where they make room for story for meaning and identify If they lose these crucial elements what does it matter that they can measure stuff in nanosPeople are looking for work to provide a sense of community as never before In a Harvard Business Review article Lori Goler and her colleagues identified three factors as necessary for job satisfaction career community and cause amp8220Community is about people feeling respected cared about and recognized by others It drives our sense of connection and belongingnessamp8221You might think that community is only important to certain types of people holding certain types of jobs in certain countries Goler however found that community as well as the two other factors transcend types In fact on a 50 scale engineers rated the importance of community as 418amp8212a surprisingly high rating from a group that is often thought of as idiosyncratic lonersThink about community as a forum for storytelling in the broadest definition of that term In any organization where people have a strong sense of community they also are constantly telling and listening to storiesamp8212stories about the behavior of bosses about the machinations of teams about the heroic efforts of one leader and the villainous actions of another More than that stories about the organization reside in all employeesamp8217 headsA major merger with a competitor a few years ago is analogous to a historical treaty signing between formerly warring nations this event and everything that led up to it is embedded in peopleamp8217s consciousnessThe multiple stories of an organizational community provide people with common language ideas and personalities offering a narrative of which they are a part As Goler asserts community fosters a sense of amp8220connection and belongingnessamp8221 and these positive attributes emanate from the ongoing organizational storyThe Loss of Deep EngagementCompanies used to talk about their people as family In the wake of downsizing and in workplaces where people work remotely travel constantly and change jobs frequently family no longer seems an appropriate term But should workplaces be the opposite of family impersonal environments where people measure their satisfaction by the size of their paycheck and bonusTo address this question letamp8217s start with the highly influential paper amp8220Measuring Meaningful Workamp8221 which examines several studies and concludes that this type of work is aligned with passion and seen as a higher calling growth in a job and making a difference in the world represents a greater purpose than incomeSimilarly CEO Tony Schwartz identifies twelve attributes of a great workplace and notes that a key to these attributes is standing amp8220for something beyond simply increasing profits Create products or provide services or serve causes that clearly add value in the world making it possible for employees to derive a sense of meaning from their work and to feel good about the companies for which they workamp8221Most organizational leaders probably agree with these notions of meaningful work at least in the abstract Yet many donamp8217t create the necessary conditions Willis Towers Watson a global advisory firm found that two out of three workers were not fully engaged at work with almost onefifth completely disengagedamp8220The most significant factors relate to how their supervisors support them on the job their levels of stress and the severity of their workloads For the detached by contrast company leadership stood as the focal point Detached workers lack an emotional connection to the organization stemming from feelings that they do not work for a company with strong values clear vision and a leadership team that takes employeesamp8217 interests and needs into accountamp8221Architecting Emotional and Physical LandscapesOrganizations possess a lot of physically and emotionally detached workers these days Think of it from a landscape perspective Thereamp8217s the physical landscape of homes offices offsite meeting spaces and so onThereamp8217s also the emotional landscape of relationships with bosses and fellow employees People feel spaces and connections both emotionally and physically and therefore sculpting environments are key for establishing meaning and purpose These spaces whether they be emotional or physical whether it be an office an event or an offsite where the culture of a company is created and sustainedIn these spaces stories are told stories about values as relates to customers employees communities and shareholders Stories about the companyamp8217s founders how it was founded and why it exists beyond creating products and services Stories that employees create as they find purpose and growth and meaningThese stories are lost or at least diminished when people fail to get together inperson on a regular basis or fail to feel emotionally safe to speak up and share stories When theyamp8217re enmeshed in data working remotely transfixed by screens and not fully present for other reasons people donamp8217t tell or hear the stories that imbue the workplace with meaningCompanies will need to combine working from home the office events and experiences in different ways for differently experienced people and jobs to balance the benefits of distributed and inperson interaction They will not be a single model for every firm or level and in the differences will be the challenge and where the magic of managing will lieRobots Compute People DreamAt a time when people change jobs with almost the same regularity with which they change their passwords community keeps people loyal to their organizations More than that in a volatile uncertain world of work it provides certainty and satisfaction We need to be aware that in our rush toward all things digital weamp8217re endangering this sense of community In author Don DeLilloamp8217s landmark novel Underworld he writesI was driving a Lexus through a rustling wind This is a car assembled in a work area thatamp8217s completely free of human presence Not a spot of mortal sweat except okay for the guys who drive the product out of the plant allow a little moisture when they grip the wheel The system flows forever onward automated to priestly nuance every gliding movement backreferenced for prime performance Hollow bodies coming in endless sequence Thereamp8217s nobody on the line with caffeine nerves or a history of clinical depression Just the eerie weave of chromium alloys carried in interlocking arcs block iron and asphalt sheeting soaring ornaments of coachwork fitted and merged Robots tightening bolts programmed drudges that do not dream of family deadThis paragraph has stayed with me for a long time particularly these three linesHollow bodies coming in endless sequenceThereamp8217s nobody on the line with caffeine nerves or a history of clinical depressionRobots tightening bolts programmed drudges that do not dream of family deadAll industries are becoming increasingly automated While DeLilloamp8217s book encrusted and infested with machines of every typeIn todayamp8217s distributed workplace where we interact across screens with machines that spew data that is collated and compiled by computers how do we maintain a sense of communityPhoto courtesy of Rishad TobaccowalaClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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